


That Old Lovers' Song

by viciouswishes



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-01
Updated: 2005-08-01
Packaged: 2017-10-11 18:19:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/115485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viciouswishes/pseuds/viciouswishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spike visits Buffy for closure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Old Lovers' Song

Spike hesitates when he knocks on Buffy's door. Well, not just her door as other people occupied the flat. Not with what happened after the battle in L.A., when he could barely look her in the eye and she started seeing Gunn. He's even more hesitant when she opens the door with a smile.

She offers him a glass of blood as if she knew he was coming; there's a chance that Angel called to warn her. They move into the dining room. It's a comfort to know that she still keeps some in stock for drop by vampires with souls, and he swears that she has fewer bags under her eyes than when he saw her last. The smile, the inner light, and he can remember why he fell in love with her in the first place.

"Please don't tell me you're here because Angel's trying to destroy the world again," Buffy breaks their silence.

"You-we destroyed Sunnydale." Spike takes the glass from her and sips it. He shakes his head as he swallows. "No. I was just in the neighborhood, you might say, and thought that I'd stop by."

He watches darkness pass over her eyes at the mention of Sunnydale. She clears her throat. "Just a visit."

"Yep, one old friend to another," Spike responds. They never really cleared up things in L.A. She buried the hatchet with Angel, and she'd already moved on too much for Spike to come back into her life. He was supposed to be dead. "So how's Charlie?"

Buffy's hand plays with an iris petal that's fallen from the vase on table. "He's good. He's good to me and to Dawn. Though I think he sometimes makes Giles feel a little put out with all that access to demon languages and law without the research." Spike knows that Gunn must've bought her those flowers. The only ones Spike could ever manage to give her were from a graveyard, only a step ahead of the blood red roses Angelus sent her.

"Dawn still doing the mini-Watcher gig?" He wants to know that she's happy, but he's not ready to hear everything, to hear just how happy she is without him. He thought that he was ready to let the hope of being with her again go, but perhaps he was only lying to himself.

Buffy shakes her head. "No. She wanted some time off, to find herself a little more. And who am I to say no? I would've jumped at the opportunity to travel all over the world and do as I pleased."

"You still could." The blood he's drinking has become tepid, but Spike finishes it off anyway.

"I did. After Sunnydale, I took an extended vacation once the paperwork went through and Giles had better access to the Watcher bank accounts. Went to beaches all over Europe, met up with Oz in Tibet, took little sled dogs through the Canadian Tundra. If only actual Mounties were as cute as on TV. Yep, Buffy is well traveled."

Spike smiles at her comment. He's glad that she can still joke, can still laugh, and he realizes that he's been around Angel far too long that laugh has become something foreign to his ears. He nods. "I should probably be off. I'm catching a train to meet Angel in Milan."

But Spike's too late. The door's opening and Gunn's entering the flat. "Honey, I'm home and I brought take out."

"We're in the dinning room," Buffy shouts. She stands up and greets Gunn with a kiss as he enters small kitchen and dining room. Suddenly, Spike feels claustrophobic.

"Charlie." Spike nods. His hand fiddles with the empty glass.

"Hey, Spike." Walking over, Gunn gives him a slap on the shoulder. He's still smiling so that's a good thing. They never fought before, but who knows how much Buffy's told him about her exes. "Angel trying to destroy the world again?"

Spike snorts. "What is it with you two and thinking that Angel's in trouble?"

"We've met him?" Gunn offers. He sets a pizza box on the table.

"Still, a 'Gee, Spike, how's the unlife going?' would be nice." Spike sighs, really wishing that he'd made his escape earlier. "No, the poofter's fine. For Angel."

Walking over to the kitchen, Gunn pulls out a beer from the fridge and tosses it toward Spike. "Don't worry, it's English, not Italian." He takes another one out for himself. "So how's the unlife?"

"Couldn't be better. Following an obsessive vampire around the world to kill the remaining minions of the Senior Partners. Not to mention, there's Illyria. No, the fallen god-king hasn't changed a bit." Spike takes a sip of the beer, thankful for the cool liquid in his mouth. Gunn knows his beer. "If you hear a loud crash, it's probably her."

"She still thinking that you're her pet?" Gunn hands Buffy a plate for her pizza.

Spike is surprised at how quiet Buffy is. He figures that it's the reconfiguration of them. Buffy and Gunn love each other, and for Spike, there's Angel and, for what it's worth, Illyria's odd alliance with them.

Buffy livens up as Gunn begins to chat about the case he's working on with the local Slayers. Something about some demons killing children and Gunn being able to use his lawyer knowledge. Spike really isn't listening. Instead, he picks at the potato bits on top of the pizza. He wonders just who decided that potatoes would taste good on pizza.

"Could use you on a little reconnaissance in the sewers tomorrow, if you're up for it, Spike," Gunn interrupts Spike's thoughts with a question.

He hopes he's heard enough to give a satisfactory answer. "No problem. Could give it a look."

Spike listens as they both start telling stories of the demons in Rome and about the local problems. He shares a few stories about Angel and Illyria, but nothing seems as funny or as bright as their life.

Eventually, Gunn gives his goodnight and heads toward his and Buffy's bedroom. Buffy smiles at Spike over the ends of her diet soda. "So..." She fidgets with the tab on the top of the can.

"Statement of the night, pet." Spike joins her as she starts to clear the table. He doesn't want to look like an ungrateful houseguest, especially considering that he dropped by. "Am I getting Andrew's room or Dawn's?"

Buffy chuckles as she saran wraps the extra pizza and puts it in the fridge. "Dawn's. Andrew's is a hazard zone of action figures and porn magazines. Unless you're looking for the specialty superhero fetish one?"

"Only if there's a centerfold of Linda Carter and her lasso of truth." Spike chucks the cans into her clearly labeled recycle bin. "But I think I'll go with My Little Ponies." He remembers seeing a shelf with the plastic horses on them in the living room next to Gunn's robots.

Spike catches a glimpse of sadness cross Buffy's eyes. "You kind of burned them," she says.

"Sorry about that. I'm sure they're in My Little Pony heaven, living next door to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ones."

Buffy crosses her arms over her chest. "For someone who was already a century in the 80s, you sure do remember the cartoons."

"You should've seen what we had to do for entertainment in the days before the telly was invented. So where's this bedroom?" Spike follows her as she gestures toward what he can only assume is Dawn's room. He's not sure if he's tired, but he also doesn't think he can be around her for much longer.

Together, they make the bed with clean, plum sheets. And he does miss the old couch in the Summers' living room, made up with those infamous cartoon sheets that Joyce picked out for her daughters.

As Buffy finishes tucking in the last corner, she looks up at him as if she's ready to say her goodnight. Ready to go into her bedroom and into her waiting lover's arms.

Spike exhales. "I'm glad you're happy," he says before he thinks about it anymore. It's time to tell Buffy goodbye. "Charlie's a good guy."

Buffy moves over to the other side of the bed, next to him. Her hand touches his arm. "Thank you, William." She leans in and kisses him lightly on the lips. He knows that this will be the last time.

A year ago, he would've pulled her in for a big kiss, but his window of opportunity has gone, and they're both different people. So he lets her go.

As she pulls away from him, her smile's tinged with sorrow. "Goodnight, Spike."

Spike watches her golden hair move with her body as she turns and walks to the door. He waits until it's almost shut, holding his unneeded breath. "Goodnight, Buffy."


End file.
